Parking fee raised to Dhs4 from today in Dubai

There has been a hike in the parking fee in a new policy implemented in Dubai which came into practice from today onwards. The parking fee which used to be Dhs3 per hour haas been raised to Dhs4 in Dubai with some higher rates in reference to multi level parking terminals in the city.

The new parking fee of Dhs4 per hour in the commercial areas of Dubai, covering a scale of almost 30,000 slots, has come into effect today. Just a reminder that the free parking period at noon has been abolished under the new policy which has been implemented and the new timings will be from 8am until 10pm during weekdays except Friday and public holidays.

Another thing which has come into notice is that, the parking fee in multi-level parking terminals has also been incremented from Dhs3 to Dhs5 per hour to increase the rotation of using the parking slots in these buildings. However, the fee hike does not affect 77 per cent of the total number of paid parking slots in Dubai amounting to about 130,000 car parks.

According to the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), the decision to revise the parking fee structure of parking in Dubai was prompted by the urge to find solutions for the problem of the decreasing number of vacant parking slots in congested spots of the city.

“It also stems from the need to encourage the people to use more of mass transit means and abandon the heavy reliance on private vehicles,” said Maitha bint Udai, CEO of RTA’s Traffic & Roads Agency.

“A full system involving free packages and services has been developed for citizens and residents spanning a wide spectrum of the community such as the disabled, seniors, and government entities among others,” she added.

“Eleven types of parking permits will therefore be available to a variety of community segments to serve their legitimate needs, supported by documentary evidences, to avail such permits. These 11 categories include permanently disabled, temporary disabled, disabled tourists and visitors of the Emirate, patients with chronic illnesses regularly visiting hospitals, seniors over 60, citizens residing in controlled public parking zones, in addition to GCC citizens residing in controlled public parking zones, government entities, consulates operating in the Emirate, and residents in residential communities where parking is prohibited at night for non-residents, in addition to permits at discounted rates offered to university students,” she explained

The hike in the parking fee is surely going to get a lot of mixed reviews by the general public but the issues and concerns raised by the RTA Authorities is definitely a kind of situation that needs to be tackled for the general convenience of the public.